A New HTPC person needing input....

[alantp]

Hi All,
I live in Sydney Australia. I have an Optoma H56 projector 72 inch 4x3 screen running native DVI from my HTPC. I have just started to copy complete dvd`s with all the extras (I will be getting into taking bits I dont want out a bit later extras etc etc on a disc by disc basis) The PC has a Dvico HD TV Tuner card its a P4 3Ghz 1 gig ram Radeon 9800 Pro 256mg..
I want a nice front end to view movie jackets ( I dont play many cds so this is not a priority for me) I still want to be able to use my PC as a PC (Iam running XP Pro) so if I install XLobby will I still be able to switch back to PC mode? Iam very very new to this and reading all the info Iam quite lost. I also am running an Integra 8.4 Receiver mulitichannel and digital to the PC. I have KEF KHT 9000 x 3 L/C/R 2 surrounds KEF Ci200QR in-ceiling speakers and a Celestion A6 subwoofer. I will by a wireless touchscreen when they make one that is affordable and half the size of A4 paper (is that A5 or B4). I just would like some feedback really in what to do. I use DVD Decrypter to rip and PowerDVD to play at present. I look forward to lots of input from all people out there.
Thanks
Alan

[Hiller]

You can absolutely still use the machine however you want. XLobby is just like any other program in that you just click on the executable to start it. You can always Alt-Tab to another program, minimize Xlobby or just exit the program.

I would recommend downloading DVD Profiler and using that to catalog your DVD collection. You can export the database from DVD Profiler and import that into XLobby. This allows you to have covers and descriptions of your movies without having to enter it all manually.

If you have any questions don't be afraid to ask. Documentation is still limited so if you can't figure something out just ask. We don't bite...not yet at least!

Steve

[alantp]

I took the plunge and downloaded dvd profiler and put some movies on it.. then downloaded xlobby.. I tried to import but no luck..
what now hahaha

[alantp]

partial success.. I have imported pics,movies and music but I cant play any music or movies yet...........

[mrklaw]

anyone know what sort of processor load there is when running xlobby as a server and 3 lots of winamp, all playing mp3s?

I'm guessing I can't play doom 3, but can I still browse/download from teh internet, and use photoshop/video editing etc?

I'm trying to work out the best solution, as I need to get a new PC for home (only have old laptop at the moment) - either

v.cheap minimum spec pc as xlobby server only + mid spec PC for home use

OR

Mid-high spec PC for general use and xlobby server in the background

[alantp]

For Music I only used Windows media player 10 I dont have winamp installed do I need to?
With the movies I use PowerDVD but I have no idea what to do to get this to play on the XLobby screen... need more help please....

[antipasto]

I'm running an Athlon XP 2500+ ... I cannot run MS FlightSim and have xlobby running because of heavy manipulation of the video modes.

As far as doing other things, well, my xlobby box lets me browse, use photoshop, and more all at the same time with xlobby running on the second monitor and girder providing the independent input from my ATI remote wonder (i'm using an ATI AIW Radeon 8500).

My main problem is disk speed. Not ram, nor cpu, well maybe sometimes disk space because i download lots of crap, but disk *speed*.

I cannot run, for instance, BitTorrent, without limiting the speeds.

I also cannot get any software other than ATI's to synch audio/video appropriately when recording television. No bother, really, but be aware that ATI's software is flashy and the update it often, but it doesn't play well with others sometimes.

Now I ran MyHTPC and some of Meedio (this was a bit ago) on an Intel Celeron 300a OC'd to 450mhz ... This worked great, except for *disk speed* ... BitTorrent had the same crippling effect, and when I got my new machine and chose not to get a RAID setup, I was amazed that the performance drop was the same! New machine worked better otherwise, but I still had a lot of disk access going on constantly.

My advice would be to get a couple of drives and set it up as a stripe set, or focus on faster harddrives with bigger RPMs, primarily. Best of luck!

[mrklaw]

maybe just have an extra drive setup as the streaming drive, and downloads/system on the first drive?

[antipasto]

make sure they're on different controllers, tho, at the least ;p

[Hiller]

For Music I only used Windows media player 10 I dont have winamp installed do I need to?
With the movies I use PowerDVD but I have no idea what to do to get this to play on the XLobby screen... need more help please....

I have to look at the setup screen to be able to describe this to you in detail but I will give it a shot. Press F2 to get into the setup and goto file types (I think that's the name of the tab). It will have TheaterTek, Zoomplayer, and a few other things listed in there. You need to add a new row, browse for your PowerDVD exe and add the file types you want XLobby to open, ie ifo. Just use the TT, ZP parameters for this as an example. Make sure you enable this setup and disable the other ones so XLobby doesn't try to run ZP or something like that when you click to play a movie.

If I end up in town this weekend, which is a 50/50 shot right now, I hope to write a doc for the setup of movies.

Let me know if this poor explaination helped at all!!! Also, under Help on the website there is an explaination of importing from DVD Profiler.

Steve

[alantp]

OK I have tried but no go.....
I have no idea what the system parameters mean
I dont really understand what the end and start and offline mean either
I cant seem to paste the setup screen here (is it because I have no printer attached) So..
Program = C:\Program Files\CyberLink\PowerDVD\PowerDVD.exe
Extensions = ifo,iso,avi,vob
Parameter switches = /f %playlist%

I dont know what to do next

[dalanik]

Start - when movie is run (you select it from the list by pressing ENTER i.e.)
End - not sure, as I'm not using it, probably after movie ends.
Offline - for movies on CDs and DVDs that are not ripped to hard disk. Displays dialog informing you that movie is on CD media and that you insert the CD/DVD.

parameter - for Zoom /F means fullscreen and the one in %%'s is selected movie passed to the Zoom.

D.

[chadwolcott]

I do not believe that powerdvd supports command line options. I haven't looked at it in a while since it is quite possibly the worst DVD player, IMO. A quick google search turned up no references to powerdvd command line options.

[alantp]

what version of zoomplayer and did you buy it?

[Bubblegum Bandit]

Ok, I started messing with all of this yesterday. I too was trying to get PowerDVD to play my ripped files but had no luck. So, this morning I downloaded the free version of zoomplayer, installed it, put the correct path in the file types section and selected on a movie from my movies section. Zoomplayer loaded but no movie played, it also launched a link to some zoomplayer documentation in the background. Do you have to have the Pro version to play dvds off your harddrive? I use DVD Shrink and ripped a couple of DVDs at full to try as I learn XLobby. Can anyone point me in the right direction?